Letter carriers’ food drive Saturday to 'Stamp Out Hunger'

Donations of non-perishable foods for hungry residents picked up at mailboxes during regular mail delivery times

Karen Botakaren.bota@sentinel-standard.com

Letter carriers across Ionia County will pick up bags of non-perishable foods Saturday, left for them by households on their mail routes, for delivery to local food pantries.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive, in its 21st year, is held the second Saturday each May by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).

To participate in the food drive, residents are asked to leave their donations of cans and boxes (no glass jars) in a sturdy bag next to their mailbox prior to the time of their regular mail delivery. Some suggestions for items are:

CerealPastaRiceCanned fruits and vegetablesCanned meals such as soups, chili, pasta100 percent juicePeanut butterPasta sauce or spaghetti sauceMacaroni and cheeseCanned protein – tuna, chicken, turkeyBeans – canned or dry“A few years I haven’t gotten anything, but last year I got a truckload,” said Shawn Barrett, who has been a letter carrier with the Lyons Post Office for 19 years.

Community members in Lyons left cans of vegetables, soups, stews and tuna; and boxes of noodles and ramen at their mailboxes in 2012. Barrett took the donations directly over to Pat Davis’ home to stock the shelves at the Muir Christian Food Pantry.

“This is a community that needs help. There are a lot of people out of jobs here,” she said. “We don’t have a problem picking up, because It helps.”

Letter carriers from the Saranac post office, who are not members of the NALC, still participate in the food drive, said Sherry Conley, the postmaster for nine years.

“We’ve been taking it down to the Saranac Community Church food pantry every year,” she said. “We do it to help the community. There’s hungry people out there.”

Food banks across the state need help to provide relief to Michiganders who go to bed hungry, said Jacqueline Morrison, Michigan state director of AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons), which has joined the Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

“Stamp Out Hunger is an easy, efficient and effective way to help out your local food banks,” Morrison said.

According to AARP, more than 200,000 older adults in Michigan face the threat of hunger, and nearly 9 million adults age 50 and older across the country are uncertain where their next meal will come from – a 79 percent increase over 10 years.

But older people are not the only ones at risk for hunger. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, almost 15 percent of households in the nation are food insecure. Households with children reported food insecurity at a significantly higher rate than those without children: more than 20 percent, compared to more than 12 percent. That’s 1 in 5 children.

A study, Mind the Meal Gap: Food Insecurity Estimates at the County Level, found that in Ionia County, almost 16 percent of all residents have limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate foods. For children, the statistic is even higher. Twenty-four percent of children, or nearly 1 in 4, face hunger.

“The Stamp Out Hunger food drive is important for our local communities because it helps stock food banks and pantries for summer, a time when there’s an increased need for food assistance, especially for children who are out of school,” said Fredric Rolando, NALC president.

Last year, and in each of the eight years previous, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive collected 70 million pounds of food from postal customer households.“We’re asking residents for their support to make this year the most successful in the drive’s history,” said Beth Woodard, Ionia postmaster. “It’s so easy to make a donation: simply leave a bag of non-perishable food items by your mailbox to help neighbors in need. That’s all it takes.”

All donations picked up by Ionia carriers are taken to Zion Community Food Pantry at Zion United Methodist Church.

For more information about Stamp Out Hunger, visit www.helpstampouthunger.com.

Follow Karen Bota on Twitter @KarenB_ISS.

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